Maricopa County elections chief talks voting process

Karen Osborne has been Maricopa County's elections director since 1995. For years before that, she helped run elections as county deputy director and with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

Osborne oversees and administers all federal, county and jurisdictional elections for voters living in Maricopa County. She makes sure every aspect of voting runs like a well-oiled machine, from early voting to voter registration to candidate campaign-finance reporting requirements.

She talks to The Republic about the preparations she undertakes and the often-chaotic events of Election Day.

Question: How do you prepare for each election?

Answer: Elections are a continuous cycle of improving the process and getting ready for the two major portions of the cycle. It's constant work to make sure all of the precinct lines are updated and this year we had to deal with redistricting, too. We are also always working to review the voter files, make sure we take names out for ... when people move. That's a constant, day-by-day process.

We also have to deal with campaign-finance issues that come up when anyone runs, as well as finding the polling places, and then we have to go out and lay down precinct lines.

Another thing we have to do throughout the year is hire 5,000-plus polling people to work at 724 polling places. Sometimes we have to deal with the places who decide at the last minute that they don't want to do it.

It all starts to come together around Sept. 22, when we disseminate the ballots to military and overseas and start to train people.

Q: What is Election Day like for you?

A: Well, Election Day starts before that (Tuesday). We have troubleshooters come in the Saturday before and get the last-minute stuff handled at the polling places. Each troubleshooter is in charge of five to seven precincts. That Monday, we set up the polling places.

Then, the day starts Tuesday at 5 a.m. During the day, we have three hotlines set up: one for the polling places if something messes up, one for the troubleshooters to call in, and then one for the legal team. We work through the day and deal with whatever comes up. ... We have a radio system that connects all the troubleshooters in case there's a problem.

During the evening, the ballot material is brought in to 25 receiving sites and the information is uploaded at different stations in about four or five seconds. That's what is spun up on TV. The first thing to go up on Election Night is early voting at about 8 p.m. and then the rest of it follows.

Q: What was the most chaotic election you've handled?

A: In 1996, there was a microburst that hit a school on the west side that was a polling station, which ripped the roof off. The first issue was to ensure all the people were OK, then the second step was to decide what we were going to do. Luckily, the ballots were fine and the machinery was OK, so we had everyone vote out of the back of a moving van.

In 2011, we had the power go out and everyone had to pull their cars up to the windows and make sure the headlights shown in, in a polling location in Chandler.

Chaos comes in the unknown. We never know what Mother Nature is going to throw at us.

Q: What part of your job most surprises people?

A: When you go to a polling place and the ballots are there, nobody thinks about the behind-the-scenes and what all has to happen.

Q: What do you love most about your job?

A: I love so much that it's so varied. We go to court to see whether issues will be put on the ballot, we have to translate ballots into various different languages and we have to make sure peoples' signatures match. We are here to be Switzerland ... but I love that it's so varied.